News

2012-08-23 09:00:26.827

St. Louis Woman Hides $100,000 Lottery Win

It took a St. Louis woman a day to scratch a Missouri Lottery ticket with a $100,000 prize, and she waited another day before telling her husband. Lola Swinney bought the winning “Black Pearls” ticket after church on Aug. 5 at DS Markets, 6900 Olive Blvd., in St. Louis. She left the ticket in her car when she got home and didn’t think about it until the next day.

“I said, ‘Oh, I’ve got a ticket out there,’” recalled Swinney. “I scratched one number, and I started hollering. Then I kept on scratching it, and all of them were on there. Then I really started hollering! I’m still dancing.”

Swinney said she stashed the ticket and waited to tell her husband, Joe. He recently had surgery for a heart condition, and Swinney didn’t want upset to him before a visit to the doctor. That didn’t stop her from having a little fun with him.

“I asked him, ‘Would you like to take a trip?’ He said, ‘No, you know I’m sick,’” she said in a mocking voice.

She asked him a few more questions and then set the ticket in front of him. She had to explain that he was looking at $100,000.

“He’s still happy,” she related. “He just couldn’t believe it. He still doesn’t believe it. It’s a lot of money. More than I’ve ever had in my life.”

Swinney said she plans to share some of the money with her family and donate to charity.

“Black Pearls” is a $5 game that officially began April 21, and it is the second Missouri Lottery Scratchers ticket to feature play areas on both the front and back of the ticket. Swinney claimed the sixth top prize in the game. More than $12 million in prizes, including six top prizes, remain in the game. Track prizes remaining for any Missouri Lottery Scratchers game here at MOLottery.com.